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DIY: Candy Cane Hearts

With 2016 just around the corner, I’m sure many of you are trying to figure out what to throw away so you can start fresh to ring in the New Year. For many of us who think of candy canes when they think of Christmas treats, you might have some lying around just begging to be eaten (or thrown away…). But, before you give up on them, why don’t you try a super simple DIY project that makes for a cute gift for your friends and family?

Here are the materials you need:

1 pack of mini candy canes (you can buy these at most drugstores during the holiday season and they’re less than $5! The ones I bought had 30 candy canes each)

assorted candy melts **you can choose chocolate, vanilla, or seasonal flavors such as sugar cookie at your local Michael’s** :o)

1 pack of 50ct 6-inch lollipop sticks

Optional: sprinkles for extra decoration

The steps are super simple, and it will take you less than half an hour once you get the hang of it! Since it was my first time working with candy melts, it took a while rearranging my candy canes and sticks each time I poured my melted chocolate and vanilla chips haha, but I promise it’s worthwhile to give them to your loved ones during the holidays!! 🙂

Here we go:

Preheat the oven to 325 to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line a cooking tray (or pizza tray if you can’t find your cooking trays in your messy kitchen like me haha) with wax paper or baking
Note: I made these treats twice, so I found my baking tray the second time around 😛

parchment paper **I found a recipe on Pinterest on one of the boards I follow that said it was alright to use wax paper, so I did, but make sure when you’re baking for long periods of time, to use parchment paper since you don’t want wax to melt into your baked goods!**

Line up your candy canes and lollipop sticks into the shape of hearts on a stick like the picture on the right.

Pop them into the oven and wait about 3 minutes before taking them out.

Carefully take your trays out of the oven with oven mitts, and try to mold your candy cane tips so that they connect and touch at the heart’s arch and ends.
Honest confession: I personally had a LOT of trouble with this, and I don’t know how other Pinterest users were able to do it! I popped them into the oven for about 1 or 2 additional minutes before my candy canes started to melt lol, and then I decided to give up since they just refused to bend for me 😦

In separate bowls, melt your candy melts one bowl at a time (depending on which colors/flavors you want to use) at 30-second intervals, mixing every time your microwave stops, until the candy is a smooth consistency.

Use a small spoon and drip the candy into each arch of the heart and smooth the candy as much as you can, since that will be the “surface” of your lollipop and what people will notice first. As you can see, mine are a little bit overfilled haha, but I find that after a couple times experimenting, about 3-4 chips is sufficient to fill each heart.

Refrigerate your trays for about 10-15 minutes before taking them out and using a spatula to gently scrap the lollipops off your wax or parchment paper, and package them however you prefer!